


The River

by ExtraSteps



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Happy Ending, Longing, M/M, bad juju, curse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 21:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18837208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtraSteps/pseuds/ExtraSteps
Summary: The river always calls him in the middle of the night, in the silent hours when everyone else is sleeping in their beds. It wants him, wants to devour him. Sometimes, Theo almost wants to answer it. Only Isaac can bring him back from the brink.





	The River

**Author's Note:**

  * For [parttimehuman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/parttimehuman/gifts).



In the middle of winter, the nights were freezing cold, and most of the wildlife was tucked away in their burrows, sleeping until spring.  
  
Theo envied them.  
  
In the middle of winter, the river ran a little slower, but the sound of water moving over the rocks was still enough to make his heart seize in his chest, terror gripping him.  
  
His sister might not haunt him anymore, but the memory of standing on this bridge looking down at her would stay with him for the rest of his life.  
  
His breath frosted the air in front of him with each shuddering breath.  
  
He couldn’t quite explain why he still came here. He’d moved on, or at least was very good at pretending he had. He had a life; a job, a house, friends, and a boyfriend that loved and cared for him. Why did he always have to try and sabotage it?  
  
“I knew you’d be out here.”  
  
Theo had heard his approach for miles. Not that he’d been trying to disguise it, but sometimes Theo wondered how any of them, the McCall pack, would survive without him. None of them had any subtlety or stealth, just lumbering their way through problems and mostly coming out unharmed. Not always. But most of the time.  
  
He didn’t reply. The dark, swirling depths of the river still held his gaze, trying to suck him in. It was greedy. It wanted him too. It always had.  
  
The hand on his arm startled him enough to turn away, the spell broken. For now.  
  
“Theo,” Isaac said firmly.  
  
“I’m fine,” he said automatically, frowning up at his boyfriend.  
  
“You’re not,” Isaac sighed. His curls were getting quite long, Theo noted idly. It was starting to fall into his eyes.  
  
“I am,” he insisted. But the whole conversation felt quite far away. He could still hear the river.  
  
Isaac seemed to sense the train of his thought and he glared down at the water. Theo shivered, his whole body coming alive. It would have him one day, he was sure of it, but he’d never let it have Isaac.  
  
“Let’s go,” he said roughly, stalking away, hand tangled firmly in the sleeve of his jacket, pulling Isaac after him.  
  
Neither of them stopped until the air was filled with nothing but the sound of their breathing.  
  
“I don’t like you going there,” Isaac said softly, cradling Theo’s face gently in his palms, like he was scared that he might break.  
  
“I know,” Theo said.  
  
“But you do it anyway,” Isaac pointed out.  
  
He nodded. “It calls me.”  
  
Isaac frowned thoughtfully. “Like the Nemeton calls Scott and Stiles?” He asked.  
  
Theo considered this. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I assume so. It’s like it fills my whole head, and it rings with it, and I just have to go.”  
  
“That,” Isaac said, “sounds like bad juju to me.”  
  
Theo smirked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Bad juju?”  
  
“Magic,” Isaac explained with a shudder. “Black magic. Did the Dread Doctors ever get involved in that sort of thing?”  
  
His brain stalled.  
  
The air, stale and reeking of iron and sweat and shit. Crinkled pages in large dusty tomes. The low hum of static electricity, making the hair on his arms stand on end. Yes, they’d dabbled in magic, old magic, black magic, the darkest of the dark arts.  
  
“Oh shit,” he whispered. “Those fuckers put a curse on me.”  
  
Isaac gripped his hand firmly, determined to put as much distance between them and the river as possible.  
  
***  
  
“You must have a very strong mind,” Deaton said over the speakers.  
  
They’d driven all night and half the day before Isaac had felt comfortable stopping to call Deaton. Isaac didn’t want him anywhere near the river. The further away he’d gotten, the weaker the call. Theo’s mind felt clearer than it had in a very long time.  
  
“I guess,” he said. “Can you break it?”  
  
“Probably,” Deaton said, “it will be much easier if I can find the exact curse they used though.”  
  
Theo sighed. “You need their texts then.”  
  
He looked at Isaac. “You’re not going back.” There was finality to his tone, brooking no argument.  
  
“I’ll send the instructions to Scott,” Theo said eventually. “Make sure he takes Argent. That place is booby trapped like you wouldn’t believe.”  
  
“Oh, I believe it,” Deaton replied.  
  
He hung up.  
  
“Let’s find a hotel,” Isaac said. Theo nodded, pocketing his phone and starting up his truck.  
  
He followed Isaac’s direction to the nearest and cheapest motel. They booked in and it took only long enough for Theo to text all of the instructions to Scott, and consequently explain it all to Argent on the phone, for Isaac to be curled up under the covers, fast asleep.  
  
Theo hung up the phone, staring down at his boyfriend, helplessly caught on the way his dark eyelashes looked against his creamy skin. He was so lovely, like an angel, and so much more than what he deserved.  
  
*That’s the curse talking,* he reprimanded himself fiercely. *You deserve this. You deserve a happy ever after.*  
  
He got ready for bed, placing his phone on to charge, undressing, double checking the locks on the door and windows, and then finally he crawled into bed behind Isaac, nuzzling into his neck and breathing in the scent that had come to mean home to him.  
  
It didn’t take long for him to drift into sleep.  
  
***  
  
Isaac answered the phone while Theo buried his head under the pillow.  
  
“Scott?” Isaac murmured.  
  
“No one died,” Scott began.  
  
Theo shot up. “What happened?” He asked urgently.  
  
“A few injuries,” Scott sighed. “Mostly Liam charging forward. You know how he gets when he thinks you’re in danger. He’ll be fine though. He’s sleeping it off now.”  
  
Theo fell back onto the bed with a sigh. “Stupid pup,” he grumbled.  
  
“Did you find what you needed though?” Isaac asked.  
  
Theo linked their fingers together, thumb rubbing soothingly over his boyfriend’s knuckles.  
  
“Yeah, we think so. Sit tight. I’ll let you know when we have new information.”  
  
“Okay,” Isaac sighed. “Thanks for letting us know.”  
  
“No problem dude. You two have some fun,” Scott said cheerfully, hanging up the phone immediately after.  
  
“Fun?” Isaac scoffed. “As if I could think about fun right now!”  
  
Theo hummed. “You sure?” He asked, looking at Isaac with the knowing smile, using his hold on Isaac’s hand to pull him a little closer.  
  
Isaac rolled his eyes, but he didn’t resist. Theo smirked as their legs intertwined, his lips trailing over Isaac’s jaw.  
  
***  
  
They lapsed back into sleep afterwards. It had been a long and stressful drive, and Theo could tell that the worry was eating at Isaac. He was doing his best to keep him distracted, but nothing seemed to keep that little frown between his eyebrows away for long.  
  
Isaac contented himself with laying his head on Theo’s chest, feeling the reassuring thud of his heart beat against his cheek.  
  
Theo felt it the moment it broke.  
  
He woke up with a gasp, hand clutched to his chest, sweat pouring from him in waves, his ears ringing with the call.  
  
“Theo?” Isaac asked, sounding panicked.  
  
He couldn’t breathe. The pain was too much.  
  
Distantly, he heard Isaac talking. “Whatever you’re doing, stop it,” he was screaming down the phone. “It’s killing him.”  
  
“Not much longer,” Deaton said.  
  
Theo was sucked into the darkness.  
  
***  
  
“I swear to God,” he heard Isaac say, “if you’re not right about this, I’m going to rip your throat out with my claws.”  
  
“He’ll be fine,” Deaton said dismissively. He didn’t sound far away anymore. He sounded like he was in the room.  
  
Theo struggled to open his eyes, but his eyelids were too heavy. He was as weak as a kitten. He groaned, and Isaac was suddenly there, smoothing his hair away from his face. Another set of footsteps left the room. He was in a bed, Theo realised. It smelled like home.  
  
“Hey, shh, you’re okay, Theo,” he whispered. “I’m right here.”  
  
He was turned, his face pressed against Isaac’s skin and he sighed, breathing him in. His scent was thick with concern and fear, but underneath it was the preserve on a warm summer’s day.  
  
“What happened?” He mumbled against Isaac’s collarbone.  
  
“They broke the spell,” Isaac explained after a long, tense, angry silence. “Even from that far away, it nearly killed you.”  
  
Theo hummed. “How?”  
  
“Deaton said the curse was anchored in your body. Your heart, probably. It stopped beating. I convinced it otherwise.”  
  
That explained why his ribs hurt so much.  
  
“My hero,” he teased weakly.  
  
Isaac scoffed and then fell silent. He was running his hands through Theo’s hair. It felt nice.  
  
“Do you think you could drink some water?” Isaac asked.  
  
Theo licked his lips. His mouth did feel quite dry. “Yeah,” he whispered.  
  
Isaac moved away slightly, bringing a straw to his lips. Theo took a few sips, surprised by how much even that exhausted him.  
  
The water sloshed in the cup as Isaac set it down. Theo contemplated it.  
  
“Am I going to die?” He asked.  
  
“No,” Isaac said firmly. “You’re going to be fine. It’s just going to take you a bit longer than usual to recover. The curse drained most of your energy.”  
  
Theo tried to nod. His head swam. Isaac curled around him, holding him protectively against his chest.  
  
“Get some more rest,” Isaac instructed.  
  
***  
  
It was a long, slow recovery. After a week, he was strong enough to sit up in bed. Another week after that, he could go to the bathroom by himself. A month later, he could shuffle to the lounge room and back without feeling too out of breath.  
  
“I hate this,” he said angrily, leaning heavily against the kitchen counter, his chest aching.  
  
“I know,” Isaac said soothingly, coming to him immediately, kissing the top of his head and folding him into his arms while Theo bit back bitter tears. “I know.”  
  
***  
  
Three months. That’s how long it took. A whole season. It was almost summer, the sun starting to burn a little warmer in the afternoons.  
  
Theo stood in front of the river. Its hold over his life was finally gone.  
  
He could move on now.  
  
Isaac came to stand behind him, wrapping around him, chin resting on his shoulder.  
  
“Are you free now?” Isaac asked quietly.  
  
Theo turned in his arms, looking up at him, the man that had stood with him through thick and thin. His hero, in every way possible.  
  
He could have this, he realised suddenly. This could be his forever. Longing filled his chest, tingling down and into his arms, the tips of his fingers. He traced them over Isaac’s cheek, lightly trembling.  
  
“Move in with me,” he whispered.  
  
“I basically do live with you,” Isaac pointed out, giving him an amused smile.  
  
“For necessity,” Theo dismissed him, “because someone had to look after me. Move in with me for real, because you want to. Because you see a future for us.”  
  
Isaac’s eyes widened, his mouth falling open. “You want that?” He asked, his voice filled with the same longing that Theo could feel resonating through every inch of his body.  
  
“I want all of it,” Theo said, smiling softly, “with you.”  
  
They were both grinning as Isaac ducked down to kiss him, but soon they were lost in it, in each other, the passion simmering into an inferno, the need making them shake.  
  
“Let’s go home,” Isaac whispered.  
  
They turned away from the river and walked hand in hand towards a future that looked shiny and new and dazzling  
  
It was only a river. It had no hold on him.


End file.
